The government’s proposed cuts will restrict efforts to identify asbestos in British schools, the Assistant General Secretary of the Unite Union has warned.

 

Gail Cartmail warned that asbestos is still widespread in Britain’s schools and that government plans to slash Health and Safety Executive (HSE) budgets will mean that even more people will be potentially at risk of being exposed to asbestos and of developing asbestos related illnesses.

 

These illnesses are caused by inhaling asbestos fibres. Asbestos exposure can lead to mesothelioma; a type of cancer that typically affects the lining of the lungs, asbestosis, lung cancer and other conditions. Asbestos is responsible for approximately 4,000 deaths every year, making it the biggest single cause of work related deaths in the UK.

 

The HSE is fighting to stop deaths caused by asbestos fibres, whose use remained widespread until being banned in the mid-1980s.

 

Ms Cartmail said: “The most recent HSE report on 158 schools including academies found that 30 schools had actions taken against them”.

 

She added: “There were 70 breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act and 74 were related to poor asbestos management.”

 

This comes after the Grimsby District Coroner, Paul Kelly, on 22^nd November 2011, ruled that that a college cleaner; Brenda Waddell’s death was as a result of an industrial disease. Mrs Waddell was diagnosed with mesothelioma, in February 2011. Mrs Waddell sadly passed away in September 2011, and had worked at Grimsby College since 1984. The Coroner ruled it was here that Mrs Waddell; “was exposed to asbestos that led to the disease causing her death.”

 

Unite research showed that those most at risk to asbestos fibres are those who maintain buildings. The HSE estimates at least 1,000 maintenance workers die every year from past exposure.

 

Contact details:

 

Daniel Nicholas
John Pickering and Partners LLP
19 Castle Street
Liverpool
L2 4SX

Telephone: 0151 227 1214

Email: dn@johnpickering.co.uk
Website: www.johnpickering.co.uk
FREEPHONE: 0808 1440957

 

About John Pickering and Partners LLP

John Pickering and Partners LLP- Specialist mesothelioma compensation solicitors

 

We are a dedicated personal injury law firm who do not do other types of work. We specialise in claiming damages for asbestos sufferers. We have been handling compensation claims for industrial disease for over 30 years. Most of our work involves acting for asbestos disease victims who suffer from mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis and pleural thickening. We only act for the sufferers of asbestos diseases and never act for the organisations that caused the asbestos exposure or their insurers. We have an ethical approach and donate 10% of our net profits every year to good causes that help asbestos sufferers. We have set up a charitable trust to help to fund medical research into mesothelioma and various organisations that help and support asbestos sufferers and their families.

 

Find out more about our donations to good causes. We have also been involved in most of the landmark judgments that shape this area of law. Find out more about us or our reported cases. We are on the panels of several asbestos support groups and are ranked highly by legal guides. Find out more about what others have said about us.

 

John Pickering and Partners LLP is a niche legal practice that has represented Claimants in the leading asbestos "test cases" in the last ten years. The firm represented Sylvia Barker in Barker v Corus (UK) Plc, a case that highlighted the legal tactics of employers and insurers trying to cut back their compensation liabilities to mesothelioma sufferers, and which prompted the amendment of the Compensation Act 2006 to ensure full compensation for mesothelioma claims. The firm represented two of the three Claimants in the landmark Fairchild appeal, in which the insurance industry tried unsuccessfully to block compensation altogether for mesothelioma sufferers unable to identify which of two or more sources of asbestos exposure had caused their illness.

 

The firm represented Alice Jefferson, a mesothelioma sufferer, whose illness and compensation claim against Cape Asbestos were featured in the important documentary "Alice: A Fight For Life." Shown by Yorkshire Television in July 1982, the programme was an important catalyst for legal change and public awareness of the plight of mesothelioma and other asbestos disease sufferers and a prompt for important legal reform.

 

Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that affects the lining of certain bodily organs. It most commonly affects the lining of the lungs (the pleura) but it can affect other areas including organs in the abdominal cavity (the peritoneum).

 

More than 2,000 people are diagnosed with mesothelioma every year in the UK and there is one mesothelioma death every five hours. The number of deaths from mesothelioma increased from 153 in 1968 to 1,969 in 2004 and is expected to peak at 2,450 between 2011 and 2015.

 

The first Action Mesothelioma Day was launched on 27th February 2006. Its objectives were to raise awareness about mesothelioma, to improve the treatment and care of mesothelioma patients, and to lobby for better funding for research into mesothelioma and for the protection and education of people who may be exposed to asbestos.

If you need advice about an asbestos related illness, contact us now for information about making a claim for compensation.

 

Contact us to find out more about your entitlement to claim compensation if you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer or pleural thickening.

 

For more information about asbestos diseases-

www.johnpickering.co.uk

 

For practical information and support concerning mesothelioma-

www.mesothelioma-advice.co.uk

 

For more information about claiming for different types of asbestos disease-

Mesothelioma compensation claims

Lung cancer compensation claims

Asbestosis compensation claims

Pleural thickening compensation claims

 

For more an explanation about different types of asbestos conditions-

Different asbestos conditions

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